Were I to burst these fetters, I know positively that at my death my body would remain unburied; for, know that the priests sit in judgment over every corpse, and deprive the condemned of rest, even in the grave." [This well-known custom among the ancient Egyptians is confirmed, not only by many Greek narrators, but by the laboriously erased inscriptions discovered in the chambers of some tombs.] "Why care about the grave ?" cried Croesus, becoming angry.

"We live for life, not for death!" "Say rather," answered Amasis rising from his seat, "we, with our Greek minds, believe a beautiful life to be the highest good.

But Croesus, I was begotten and nursed by Egyptian parents, nourished on Egyptian food, and though I have accepted much that is Greek, am still, in my innermost being, an Egyptian.

What has been sung to us in our childhood, and praised as sacred in our youth, lingers on in the heart until the day which sees us embalmed as mummies.

I am an old man and have but a short span yet to run, before I reach the landmark which separates us from that farther country.